round shape knobs and square shape knobs

[26th-Z]

Why do both knobs point to the left? Perhaps evidence that the car was orignally designed for LHD American export?

[v12horse]

Hey Chris, we all have our own opinions about whether the Zcar was purely designed for export or not, but I honostly believe that the Zcar is a Japanese car with export in mind.

Ben

[26th-Z]

I was just poking fun, Ben.

I can't tell you how surprised I was to find the mention in the owner's manual. We had almost come to the conclusion that the hand throttle was excluded from the American market with the exception of a few cars that "snuck" in. Evidently not so.

[MikeW]

Originally posted by 26th-Z

I found this in my 1969 Owner's manual - two pages discussing the throttle controls. Notice the round shape of the knobs.

I'm not sure I would trust hand drawings to be accurate enough to differentiate between knob styles. Have you even looked at the car on the decal on the jack that shows you the proper jack points?

[HS30-H]

Originally posted by 26th-Z

Why do both knobs point to the left? Perhaps evidence that the car was orignally designed for LHD American export?

Maybe they have a natural aversion to the Handbrake Lever ( sorry, E-Brake handle ).

While you are looking at it, ask the cigar / cigarette lighter why its on the right side of the centreline on your LHD car. To compensate for enormously long American arms, or possibly a subliminal 'Quit Smoking' sign?

Don't worry, I'm kidding too...........

[abas]

26thz

My Jan 1970 handbook seems to be the same as what Kats was referring to. It has paper stuck over the sections related to the throttle control, but you can see what is underneath.

Must have been an interesting job for someone, to go through the manuals that had been produced and stick those bits of paper in :stupid:

Looking at the picture closely, in some of the pictures of the choke and throttle control they look more closely matched to the squarer knobs and in some they look more like the round knobs.

Whilst we are as MikeW says dealing with hand drawn pictures, I would say that the round and square knobs seem to both be in existence by Jan 1970 at the latest.

Andrew

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by abas

26thz

My Jan 1970 handbook seems to be the same as what Kats was referring to. It has paper stuck over the sections related to the throttle control, but you can see what is underneath.

I haven't looked at my handbook since I bought the car a year ago (the 11/69 240Z), but I remember those pieces of paper stuck over something. I didn't know enough about the car yet (didn't even know what a hand throttle was!), so I don't know what they were covering. I'll have to dig it out this weekend and see...

[26th-Z]

I hope you guys take this club and the discussions we have with as much pleasure, fun and sense of humor that I do. I try not to offend anyone. :classic: These little faces really do help.

Mike, you make a good point. Now that I look at all the various pictures (hand drawings) of the hand throttle and choke knobs scattered throughout the manual, I notice them pointing in opposite directions, square, and rounded. I am impressed with how well the drawings depict actual parts, but it is difficult to say what is absolutely correct. The knobs shown on page 10 of my manual look square. On pages 13 and 15, they point left. On pages 16 and 17, they point in opposite directions!

Mark and Andrew, do I understand correctly that your manuals were "edited" with paste-overs deleting the hand throttle feature?

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by 26th-Z

Mark and Andrew, do I understand correctly that your manuals were "edited" with paste-overs deleting the hand throttle feature?

Mine has paste-over edits over "something", but I don't remember what. I have the manual at home, and I will dig it out and look tonight or tomorrow.

[abas]

Guys

Here's a quick and dirty example photo from my manual. There are many others.

You can see that number 27 ( which refers to the hand throttle )has a strip of paper stuck over the top. Although the hand throttle is still shown in the picture. :stupid:

regards

Andrew

[26th-Z]

Is there a date on your manual, Andrew? There are pictures of my manual covers in my gallery - page 3. 20 December 1969 It would be interesting to know when Nissan did that to the manuals. I swear if I look at the knobs on page 10 with a magnifying glass, they are the square shape. But all the rest of the drawings show rounded - clearly.

Would love to see what you find, Mark.

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by 26th-Z

Is there a date on your manual, Andrew? There are pictures of my manual covers in my gallery - page 3. 20 December 1969 It would be interesting to know when Nissan did that to the manuals. I swear if I look at the knobs on page 10 with a magnifying glass, they are the square shape. But all the rest of the drawings show rounded - clearly.

Would love to see what you find, Mark.

My manual is dated 15th January 1970. On page 10, the knobs look square, and there was something (now gone) glued over part #27 (Throttle Control Lever). On page 13, bottom right, the paragraph and picture about the throttle lever has a piece of paper with a picture of a 240Z glued over the top of it. Two pictures on the bottom center and right of page 15 have paper glued over them that show the choke area WITHOUT the throttle lever. Same on bottom right of page 16. The picture on the upper left on page 17 looks like it wasn't ever covered, and shows the throttle. And in the index (page 44), the entry for "throttle" has a piece of paper glued over it.

Obviously, it didn't take Datsun long to take the throttle directions out of NA-bound manuals!

Oh, and all the knobs except on page 10 look rounded.